The Walking Dead - Lilly (Monsters are Made, Not Born)
by TripleKillionare
Summary: After killing Carley and subsequently being left on the side of the road, life is about to get a lot tougher and even less merciful. On her own, she'll continue to sacrifice her morals and humanity to survive at all costs.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Alone

Carley's body layed off to the side, blood leaking out of her paled face. Grasshoppers chirped over the gurgling sounds of decaying walkers attracted by the gunshot. Echoing into the night was the engine of Kenny's RV, driving away what could be the last sanctuary she ever has. With walkers approaching from behind, Lilly ran off into the woods to find safety.

Her boots crunched and snapped the leaves and twigs as she runs for her life. Her left shoulder brushes against a tree trunk, feet stumbling, the forest canopy blocking the moonlight she needs. Her body rocks back, her arms flailing backward to regain balance as she slips into a shallow ditch. A few dozen meters from the road, Lilly quickly hushes herself and stands still. The walkers could still be heard approaching where she stands, couldn't be more than 3 or 4 of them.

With tons of leaf litter surrounding her, the slightest movement could give her away. Lilly knows she should continue running, but after Lee took her gun, the firearm Carley used might be the only ranged weapon she can have access to. If she manages to rush back, she might just have time to recover it. But with no weapons on her, Lilly needs to use the darkness to her advantage.

Pockets of moonlight slipped through on either side of the large tree in front of her at the top of the ditch she was in. A head lurched on the left side, staggering around. It veered off past, with no sign it saw her. Then a second head popped over on the right side, moving faster than the other one. It was more vocal, unnerving the Air Force vet. It was difficult to tell with these mindless monsters if they were attacking or just meddling about. It too passed her. Lilly sighed relief under her breath, but more walkers could be heard coming. Crouching down to continue lowering her profile, 2 more walkers passed by on both sides. She slowly turned and saw the lingering bodies move off, with the one closest being a good ten meters away.

The night grew quiet once again. Now was the time to move fast and with purpose. She sprinted out from the ditch, grappling onto a branch to steady herself. It was thick, but not so much so that she couldn't muscle it off. Grabbing on with both hands, Lilly yanked a portion of it clear. Two walkers were seen knawing on Carley's legs, trying to bite through the jeans. Approaching cautiously but with determination, she aimed with the sharp point. A middle aged looking deceased man with it's throat torn out, the walker bellowed to her, still on it's hands and knees. Lilly spiked it through the eye, grunting with exasperation. The other, a young female with a ponytail, stood up. It looked weaker in physical stature than when she first glimpsed it. Instead of stabbing it, Lilly decided to smash its face in with a swing. It collapsed on it's back, hissing, but when it tried to get up, a swift puncture through the eye ended the resistance.

Breathily heavily, some walker blood was splattered on Lilly's black jacket.

"Ugh...fucking shit".

Mildly annoyed, she dropped the branch, blood soacked on the tip. Looking beyond the trees behind Carley, there was no movement like she had thought. Seemed like Kenny had driven out further away from the chaos than she thought. At least she wasn't abandoned with a herd as big as those present in Downtown Macon, or back at the Motor Inn. That place must be crawling with walkers. Too dangerous to go back to scavenge what was lost. Lilly was out of options. She crouched beside Carley's body, and patted her backside, feeling for her gun. She felt the bulge near the rear of her pants at the waist, and retrieved it. A Beretta 92FS with 5 bullets left. No, definitely not enough to deal with whatever threats amassed back there.

Wait, the bandits were still there. Maybe they had delt with the walkers, or all perished. Or...they wiped each other out. God fucking damnit, there's only one way to be sure. Tucking the gun into her pants, Lilly walked back up the road, hugging the treeline. She didn't look back at the woman she had murdered 15 minutes ago. Far as she knew, Carley was the reason for all of this. She always seemed to have secrets festering inside of her head, keeping to herself. Carley always talked back to Lilly, proving time and again that she didn't agree with her on anything. Why would a person act so defensive when she claims she had no involvement? Just then, a glimmer of regret flickered through Lilly's mind. She executed a person in front of Clementine, a little girl. That regret dimmed out almost instantly. Things will only get worse. If that kid wants to survive, she'll need to toughen up, fast. Hopefully Lee won't try to shelter her away from whatever horrors exist outside of Macon. Same goes for Kenny, though after murdering Larry, a sick part of her head hoped that Duck and/or Katjaa would meet an untimely fate as well.

Hours passed by. Lilly wanted nothing more than to lie down and close her eyes, but the anxiety of not knowing where a walker or survivor would turn up forced her awake. She started to feel angry, yet sad. The emotions began to hit like a train. Her dad's dead, the only people she ever had turned on her in more ways than one, and nobody would be around to make her life easier. Just the opposite. She's been able to make it these past few months because of her people, but at the same time, ruined by them. Jesus christ. Her dad was strict, and made her this way, but being hard helped both pre-apocalypse and post-apocalypse. Maybe she should have been nicer. Maybe they should have been more like her. How could this have been avoided? Was it her fault that one of her own betrayed the group? Was it wrong to stay at the Motel for as long as they did? Should she have agreed with Kenny sooner on leaving?

"FUCK!", Lilly shouted aloud. She didn't care if walkers or people nearby heard. There has been nothing for the past few hours but empty road.

Lilly smelled smoke in the air. She looked up, and saw a light grey plume mixing with the partly cloudy morning sky. The sun was still coming up, finally helping with the visibility. Surprisingly no walkers around after all this time, they were most likely drawn to the Motel. A fire must have started there. Could fire draw walkers?

"Why am I doing this?", Lilly said to herself. She'd probably just have to turn back once she arrives, but there was still supplies left behind, and most of the bandits either got killed by Lee or the walkers.

Lilly crossed the road to get a better look at the situation. She could hear flames cackling, and some moaning from a distance. Then the smell became noticable, and she saw what was going on.

"Oh my god", Lilly whispered, her eyes widening.

Almost 20 walkers were walking through an intense blaze, roasting themselves alive. One of the bandits was behind a dumpster, only his hand exposed while half a dozen walkers were consuming him. He wasn't shot in the head, so he had reanimated, but the corpse wasn't in good enough shape to get up anytime soon. Bodies laid everywhere while the second floor of the Motel, to the left side of Lilly's room, was completely in flames. After everyone left in the RV, the bandits must have tried to grab the supplies left behind, and then got trapped in by walkers.

Rotting flesh is one thing, but cooked rotting flesh is uncomprehendable. The wind blew the aroma straight at Lilly and it took her an insane resolve to not throw up right there. With a total of 50+ walkers now in view, it was clear this was pointless. She held her head low, resting her right hand over her face. Lilly began to weigh her options. North of Macon is the Piedmont National Wildlife Refuge, but it's very far away. She didn't want to risk moving the group elsewhere out of fear they would be picked off, but with Lilly by herself, this didn't present a problem. She began to look outward into the woods toward the dairy farm, confident the bandits are mostly dealt with. Even if there are more of them, without her group or the St. Johns, they had no one to rely on for food or drugs, and thus have no reason to stay in the area. It's a plausible bet that the Farm is the next best place to go to.

"Now! Go, go, GO!", a raspy voice yelled from Lilly's former home. Across from the fire, a man flung the door open and ran across to the staircase. Gliding past where she had taken a stand against them yesterday, he evaded the distracted walkers. A hooded woman pulled out a crossbow and fired at a walker raising its head in curiosity, then vaulted the ledge, in order to stay right behind him. A third individual tried going down the stairs, but tripped and rolled down violently. Mere seconds afterwards, walkers descended on him.

"No, no, NOO-AAAAAGHH!" his screams reached a high pitch as his guts were ripped out. Lilly lept over to a bush and laid prone to avoid being seen by both parties. The two surviving bandits ran across the street, using a destroyed gate to block more walkers. They dissapeared into the foliage, as their compatriot drew in most of the horde. Lilly got up in a hurry, and pursued the couple, with 5 walkers following suit.


	2. Chapter 2

Hot on their trail, Lilly was tracking the individuals by keeping a steady sightline. A dirt path opened up, getting rid of any cover she would have. It didn't matter, Lilly was not about to lose sight of the bandits who attacked her home yesterday. Armed with a handful of bullets in a pistol, she was sure that she could trade it in for reusable crossbow or a long rifle. They were far away from walkers, yet they continued to keep their pace.

This trail looked familiar, it was the same one Lilly and the gang had traveled on to get to the Dairy when the St. Johns had made their offer. The mental image of her father with his skull fragments splattered on the floor of the locker came racing to her mind. Those sick fucks didn't suffer enough. But these two will. The St. Johns had did what they did to appease the Bandits, but they chose to evaluate desperate people by how much meat they had on their bones. They didn't even try to use Lilly, Kenny, or Lee to fight back against them. Their contributions would have been only in the form of human steaks.

Lilly could tell she was getting close. She walked off the path to the treeline and kept a low profile, anticipating watchful eyes. A great, dark structure stood out past the trees, it was the barn. Corn stalks were once present in the fields adjacent, but appeared rooted out. The stench of dead people arose out of nowhere, indicating walkers had been here in force. Lilly remembered seeing them breach the perimeter fence, after the generators gave out for the last time. It was particularly strong, like they were still present. She glanced over at the gazebo she had spent time at before the...there was a pile of walkers stacked up on the steps right beside and inside the gazebo. Must have been 20 or 30 of them. Looks like the bandits called this place their new home.

"You lost Charlie, how the fuck did you lose charlie!?", a womans voice screamed out, getting Lilly's attention refocused on her targets. The female survivor crossed her arms over on the porch railing of the house. A bandana covered her mouth. She was wearing black shades as she turned around facing inside the house.

"Charlie saved us, and we led him to that godamn death trap! You said we were going to leave after checking the first room, why'd you have us stay to search the two rooms upstairs!?", she said, getting increasingly frustrated while pointing her finger at the unseen individual.

They were too busy arguing with each other to notice their surroundings. Lilly stayed in her crouched position, moving to behind the pile of walkers. It was smelly, but now she was completely out of sight. Some of the walkers had their jaws dislocated, appearing as though they were horrified by their demise. The expressions on a couple of them were downright creepy, one of which with missing ears and no nose. These walkers were toyed with even after they were put down. Dried blood and fresh blood mixed unevenly, arms and legs recently hacked off. Possibly being prepared as some sort of scarecrows? One of the bodies was Danny, with a missing foot. His corpse was away from the others, more dried up too. The bandits must have been about to mutilate him before they geared up for their assault.

"Fine! Go back over there then, finish up your work!", a man's voice pierced through the air. It was a different voice from the man who escaped the Motel. Members of the group must have stayed behind while others attacked. This individual was grunting to himself as he walked towards the pile, butcher knife in his left hand.

"Oh, no problem Marcus, we know you just grabbed a shitload of shit from those shitheads, let me keep treating you like shit! Hmmph", the black muscular guy mockingly muttered to himself. Lilly stayed where she was. He walked up the steps to the pile, looking down at walker Danny.

"Time to look pretty for picture day, shithead", as he turned away from Lilly. He bent over, and started to chop at the walkers right arm. Lilly silently stood up, grappling the wooden rail. She lifted her left, then her right leg over, and pulled out her gun.

Taking off the safety behind his head, she barked at him, "Drop the knife, put your hands in the air, and don't make a sound". The man kept his cool, and unexpectedly retorted, "You better put that gun down or I'll make you look uglier than this boy here". Lilly didn't like his reply, she wasn't in the mood. She kicked the back of his knee, making him wince in pain as he was forced down on one leg. She used her left hand to grab his knife wielding arm to make sure he couldn't flail it back at her. Lilly pressed the barrel of the gun to his back and warned,

"I'll make you bleed out to death next to your boyfriend if you don't drop the knife and tell me how many people are still here, understand?". He dropped the knife with a slight hesitation.

"Four. There's four in the house. But I don't think you'll stand a cha-", he was interrupted as Lilly slammed the butt of her gun to the back his head. She grabbed the knife and slit his throat. Blood gargled out of his mouth as he choked, fear clouding his eyes as his life faded away. Lots of blood poured down on the walker he was going to use that knife on. He collapsed onto Danny's body.

Good. 4 people, 5 bullets. Lilly kept the knife and gun in both hands as she hopped back over the railing, her mind focusing on a plan of attack. It wouldn't take long before someone noticed what happened. Looking over, a small group of walkers, around 10 of them, were creaping from beyond the Barn. They were only lurking about, but were within earshot of a loud noise. She was going to use that to her advantage. Lilly crouch-walked over to a blind spot near the front porch of the house, right under where the woman was before. Only a few seconds passed until someone opened up the front door. A deep yawn was heard, followed by a gasp. Lilly pulled her knife and stabbed him in the leg. He yowled in pain, falling to the floor above her. She pulled the knife out of his shin and looked on as the walkers became attracted to the shrieks of pain.

Multiple loud footsteps could be heard rushing around from inside the house towards the front door. Lilly took a few steps back, to stay out of view. The door flung open, and immediately several shots rang out. Walker heads splattered, one got grazed off the neck, but then a crossbow bolt went straight through the eye. A shotgun blast ripped through two torsos at once, the buckshot spread not landing on the skulls with enough penetration. The injured bandit managed to get up with the help up the woman. Lilly decided now would be the time to strike before he mentions her presence.

"There's a crazy bitch here, find he-", Lilly raised her head, revealing herself before he could finish his sentence. She pulled out her Beretta and fired a single shot at the womans head as she tried raising her crossbow at the last second. Her body fell backward, and Lilly fired again at the person behind her in the face. The man with the fucked up leg tried to get up, away from Lilly, but she shot him in the chest before he had the chance.

A bullet shredded through the screen of the front door in Lilly's direction, making her duck down. Another shot burst out, their attempt to surpress her position. She could hear the casing eject and another round chamber through. They were waiting for her to bring her head back up. With two bullets left, Lilly fired twice, once over her cover, and the second while aiming through the screen. She saw a human shadow get back up, ready to return fire. Lilly was already up the steps, beside the potted plants Brenda St. John had perched over the side. The doorknob was right in front of her, but opening it would get her hand blown off. A low gurgling sound emitted from one of the corpses, the man Lilly shot in the chest. It flipped off it's back, looking straight into Lilly's eyes. This was no time to be dealing with a walker. But then, Lilly had an idea.

Waiting for the walker to approach closer, Lilly clutched the butcher knife with a firm grip. Not using it's legs, the walker growled at her while dragging itself to her with only it's arms. One last roar was made before it's body passed the door. At that moment, Lilly cut off one hand that reached out at her, and then summoned up the strength to grab the walker by the shoulders, standing up with the body as a shield. It thrashed around, but Lilly pushed it's face against the side of the door to prevent any accidental bites. She used it's remaining hand to grab the door handle and open it, then threw the beast in.

It immediately lunged for the person inside, grabbing onto their jeans. Lilly was still outside, hearing the person breath frantically, struggling to get free. A chair wobbled and then collapsed, perhaps being used as a weapon. A bullet finally rang, and Lilly turned the corner inside, seeing a young teenager look up in fear after having just barely survived the walker. He grabbed onto the rifle's bolt handle to try and get another round ready, but Lilly drove the knife into the boy's eye. Dropping the gun, and screaming at the top of his lungs, he slightly pushed her arm off, the knife slowly receding out of his socket.

"AAAAGH-STOP, STOP!", he desperately pleaded. Lilly wrestled with him on the floor, using her body weight to slam in the knife. The teen shook and convulsed, making inhuman noises that can only be described as a dead person trying to reobtain life.

His hand touched her face, twitching rapidly, until, he stopped moving completely. His body loosened up, and his arm fell on the floor.

The knife was stuck into the boy's face, almost 3 inches deep. Breathing heavily, Lilly's body shook. It took her a few moments to recompose herself, eventually sitting on the floor with her back pressed against the wall next to the opened door. She glanced over and reached to close it. Closing her eyes, Lilly couldn't stop seeing mixed images of the boy's face and Carley's. The two images had blended together, one eye with a knife in it, and the other expressionless. Carley's face looked more vivid now in her mind than when she had observed her the day before. Her body still shaking, she forced herself up and looked down at the boy, his body on top of a now blood soaked chair leg. She recognized this kid. He was celebrating a birthday party in her neighborhood a few months ago.


End file.
